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Roots Music from the Canadian West |
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Dale & Laura Budd grew up in rural communities in southern Saskatchewan, where they attended the last of the one, two and four room schools in the 1960's. They have always kept a close connection with their rural roots and now reside in the forest fringe region of northwest Saskatchewan where they have established Last Best West Heritage Projects Inc. |
| Dale studied classical piano and violin as a child, but later
shifted his interests towards roots music. In 1979, Dale and Laura attended a number
of music festivals in the Maritimes where they were impressed with the strong connection
between rural communities and musicians. Dale became interested in the idea of developing
a music show that reflected the heritage of the Canadian West. The experiences of
the next two decades - raising a family in a rural community, teaching music, performing
in countless prairies dance halls and learning western music traditions from musicians
who played in those halls since the 1920's - have been combined to create Last Best
West. Last Best West Heritage Projects Inc. is a nonprofit membership corporation created to support heritage projects and to create economic and educational opportunities in rural communities. In his book 'Wolf Willow', published in 1955, Wallace Stegner documents the decline of rural communities in Saskatchewan by comparing the wealth of cultural institutions established in those communities at the turn of the century when western Canada was attracting the "cream of Europe" to the decline Stegner found in the 1950's. Of his own childhood home, Stegner notes: "Instead of developing as a land of opportunity (the Canadian West) has become an exporter of manpower to places where real opportunity exists...if generations of children are to grow up without architecture, art, theater, dance, music or conversation...then the only alternatives for the intelligent and talented young will be frustration or escape." While rural communities continue to decline, the development of new information and media technologies does create possibilities for reversing this process. In the 1960's, Marshall McLuhan developed the idea that electronic processes would decentralize information, breaking the ties between urban centers and the workplace. Last Best West Heritage Projects Inc. has been founded on the concept that media technologies can be the 'Village Technologies' of the 21st Century, providing employment opportunities for talented people who would choose to live in rural communities. |